Summer Spent In Third World Enriches Writer

MAITLAND — When 17-year-old David Scoma returned from a summer trip to the Dominican Republic, he found it difficult to explain everything he'd experienced.

He saw a place so poor that children's stomachs were bloated, their dark hair bleached in patches from malnutrition. But he also found a place where people in a remote farming village were kind, hospitable and happy to share what little they had.

Scoma drew on those memories to craft his first novel, a tale of life in a Third World country as seen through the eyes of an American teen-ager. At 22, the Maitland native will be a published author when Viaje hits local book stores in June.

''I'm very lucky and very happy this is all starting in Central Florida because this is where it all began for me,'' said Scoma, a free-lance filmmaker based in New York.

The title of his book is Spanish for ''journey.'' Scoma said it captures the essence of his book, which revolves around fictional character Drew Palisano's experiences in the Dominican Republic and his personal enlightenment, as well as his feelings of loneliness and frustration.

Jogged by a daily journal of dates and one-word entries from his trip, Scoma wrote Viaje while a freshman at college. He submitted it to more than 30 publishers before Misdemeanor Press took him up on it.

Robin Nelson, the local distributor for the small publishing house in New York, said Viaje will be a standard first printing of 1,000 copies with the first ones available in most Central Florida bookstores.

She said it is unusual the book was penned by a teen-ager from a teen-ager's perspective, which gives it a realistic and unique perspective of life in the Third World.

''The fact that it was written by a teen-ager makes it very honest,'' she said. ''As adults, we tend to let other things cloud our vision.''

The book, which will sell for about $14.95, should interest adults as well as teen-agers, Nelson said.

''I think it has great potential,'' she said.

All this, and yet Scoma said he didn't even expect to be chosen for the trip in the first place.

He was selected for Viaje de Companeros, a monthlong mission program sponsored by the Catholic Diocese in Orlando, when he was a senior at Bishop Moore High School in 1987. Scoma said he applied, for the most part, because his friends did. When he was picked and they weren't, Scoma almost backed out.

In the end, about 15 volunteers found themselves hiking across mountains to a rural village near the Haitian border, and Scoma was one of them. Their job while in the village of Catanamatias: to clear brush with machetes. That would allow villagers to plant trees to keep the intense rains from washing away precious topsoil.

Tarantulas, rats and injuries came with the job. The living conditions presented their own challenges.

Scoma was one of the few volunteers who didn't become ill from parasites, and there was always the danger of exhaustion in the intense heat. A nearby river was the only source of water, which had to be sterilized because the villagers bathed and washed clothes in it. Home was a tent.

For a middle-class teen-ager used to the comforts of home, it was tough adjusting to the spartan lifestyle. But Scoma found the people bright, friendly and honored to host Americans.

''Every day was a new surprise because you'd learn something else about these people,'' he said. ''Even though they're in such a deplorable, desperate situation, they're completely happy.''

While there were fun times, like teaching the village kids ''Duck, Duck, Goose'' and other games, there were low points, too. One of the most frustrating was when an infant became ill with dysentery. The mother resisted trying a common antacid and diarrhea medicine the Americans offered, and the baby died.

''This child died because of something that could have been cured in a snap in the U.S.,'' Scoma said. ''Even five years later I have trouble talking about the baby's death.''

Scoma said he now has a greater awareness for the poor and homeless, here as well as worldwide. He said he hopes readers will get a feel for life in an impoverished country, and maybe even become angry.

''I want them to think . . . 'Gosh, I never thought of that. I never thought other people didn't have these luxuries,' '' Scoma said.

Americans bombarded with faces of starving children on television have become desensitized, but his experience allowed him to see the poor as individuals, Scoma said.

He said he is often reminded daily of his time in the Dominican Republic, an experience that enriched his life and changed him more than he expected.

''It's not the most worthwhile thing I did. It's the most worthwhile thing that was done for me,'' he said.